It’s nice to have the simple things, a roof, a bed, a microwave; you know just the bare necessities.

Staying at my grandparents place has been like finding an oasis in the middle of a desert (Especially because I'm in Santa Fe). This place is fully loaded with a place to crash, a fridge, freezer, dishwasher, toaster oven central heating, and most importantly, coffee maker. I can’t tell you what a treat it is to be able to buy perishable foods and have them not perish before I eat them. Also, they took me to the grocery store and bought me like a week’s worth of food.  And coffee whenever I want? Saweeet! Oh, and not shivering my way to sleep is a perk too. I know it sounds trite but to all you who think life would be just as easy without these things, I urge you to try 3 weeks without them. Go ahead, I double dog dare you. Do It! You Won't!

Santa Fe

After about 5 minutes of consideration, I decided to leave Crestone and drive to Santa Fe, my grandparents have an apartment there where I am staying now. They haven’t been here so far, my grandfather is coming back later tonight and my grandmother is coming back tomorrow morning. Then they both leave for Taos for the weekend so I will be alone in the apartment again. It is very nice of them to let me stay here so if you guys are reading this, thank you very much I really appreciate it.

The biggest pile of sand in North America

The Great Sand Dunes of Colorado truly live up to their name. They are enormous, much bigger than they look. The tallest dune is over 750 ft tall and the sand dunes themselves stretch over 30 miles along the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Walking up them is kind of like walking up a stair stepper. 2 steps forward, 1 step back, the whole way up. However, the scenery makes you forget that you’re tired. From the top ¾ of your view is snowcapped mountains spotted with trees and patches of sunlight that come through the clouds. The rest is an expansive vista of plains that stretch 100 miles to the other side of the valley where another mountain range closes in the San Luis Valley. Shortly after I got to the top, the most prodigious sandstorm erupted, pelting my body with sand whipping around at 50 miles an hour. Once it got unbearable, I started down only to be pelted with hail and snow hitting me with the same speed. It was a pretty awesome storm and it made it kind of fun to roll down the sand dunes in the midst of the maelstrom of snow, hail, and sand. When I got down I realized I had skinned off a patch of hair off my legs from the sand. All in all, painful, but a good day.

Rain, Snow, and Red Bull

My mom had told me that I wasn't allowed to leave Boulder until my phone got fixed so she could call if the need should arise, so last Sunday my phone finally got fixed so now it actually recognizes incoming calls. I'd been feeling a little antsy staying in one place for an entire week, so I decided to leave. Now, before I go any further I should mention that I had a plan when the day began, I was going to go to Golden, Colorado and stay at a campground in the Golden Gate State Park. I had called ahead and gotten directions and was all set to go. Unfortunately, I misjudged how long it was going to take to get there and I wound up getting to the campground, which closed at 6:00, at 6:10. Shit. So i kept on driving hoping to find another campground that wasn't closed, nothing. I could feel the rock solid plan I had formed earlier inching closer and closer to the window. With the small worry of not having a place to sleep that night growing bigger and bigger as the sun got lower and lower in the sky, I kept driving, having no idea where I was going. In retrospect, driving into the night in a direction I hoped was leading me South away from where I'd come from hoping for a magical free campground or a comfort inn holding it's annual "guests stay free" night may not have been the best plan, but there I was. It was pretty though, snow capped mountains, sunset kissed clouds, expansive vistas, the works. So at least i had a view while I was lost, until it got dark at least. I kept driving, hoping to come to some town where I could park and, at this point, sleep in my car. I finally came to the town of Nederland around 9:00 at night. The problem with this is that I had already been to Nederland, about 2 weeks ago and that was north of Boulder, where I had come from. I had managed to get turned around drive in the opposite direction i had intended, good job Jamie.

One of the things I had intended to do while in Colorado was go to Crestone, which I'd heard was beautiful, and the "Great Sand Dune National Park" which was very close to that. So I took out my map and GPS and figured that it was about 150 to 200 miles away. Having nothing better to do I said the hell with it and immediately starting making preparations for my overnight drive to Crestone. Preparations = buying two Red Bulls. And off I went. The drive to Crestone takes you over a mountain range and then down into the San Luis Valley. I'm sure it would have been an amazing drive if it hadn't been for two things, it was night, and there was the most ridiculous storm. Lightning illuminated the mountaintops around me, occasionally reminding me that I was indeed in Colorado. Also It starting raining, kind of. It seemed like rain but the water droplets were so small they didn't stick the windshield and  just flew over it like snow, then it started actually snowing, and the wind was actually blowing my car from side to side the whole way. It was pretty cool. Once in the San Luis valley it's as flat as you can imagine, I mean there is nothing, just land and the occasional jack rabbit crossing the road. I finally arrived at around 2 in the morning. The town of Crestone is located at the foot of 14,000 foot mountains and  is TINY. If you know how big Wendell is, its about a quarter the size of that. Yet it has two liquor stores, interesting. So in the dead of night I explored the area, and tried to find an area to spend the night. I found a small back road up  into the mountains, my first choice was a trail-head with a big round clearing, I was thinking this would be a good place to sleep when I noticed that there was already a guy in a hippy van already sleeping there, so i decided to find a different place. I finally found a small clearing off the road parked it. Ready for bed at this point, I put my seat back, crawled inside my sleeping bag and slept right there in my car. Relatively freaked out by how perfect a setting this was for a horror movie.

So there was this campground.

The Campground I've been staying at has been cheap and in  a good location. However, my campsite was quite literally a pile of sand, but at 15 bucks a day i wasn't about to complain. What I just learned a couple of days ago however, is that this particular campground is known for two kinds of people. Homeless people, who apparently pay by the month, and people in giant RV's, who give free stuff to the homeless people.No Joke, I was talking with a homeless man, he said that these Rv-ers come to the campground and if you'll ask them, give you food, water, even a free sleeping bag. He even told me that most nights there are at least a few people sleeping in their cars in the Wall Mart parking lot, and that some mornings the people in the Rvs show up early in the morning, talk to them, see how they're doing and, i'm not kidding, bring a stack of 100 dollar bills and give it away to guys sleeping in their cars. Things sure are different out in the west.

First Hike

I went on my first hike in Colorado on a moderately steep trail on Mt. Sanitas located on the outskirts of Boulder. I've been here for almost 2 weeks,I'm a little ashamed it took me this long to get started. Still, I was rudely reminded of how out of shape i was and how much the altitude affects you during exercise as I bent over trying to catch my breath every 10 minutes of so. Thankfully Mt. Sanitas has breathtaking views of the Rockies and of Boulder and Longmont below, which didn't really mean much as most of my breath was already gone, nevertheless the views were beautiful and the water breaks passed enjoyably. The top disappointingly primarily faced the east which as high school has taught us is the flat part of the country. Slightly less spectacular than the 14,000 ft peaks behind me. Still it was a nice reward for my efforts. I'm trying to get in shape for Americorps so I'm going to try to do the same hike today, but faster.

Week in Review

I've been in Colorado for about a week now and since I haven't even started this blog yet, I though this would be a good time to catch things up. I took 4 days to drive across the country, taking I-80 most of the way which is the fastest way out...on paper. But the road takes you through some of the flattest parts of the country and so it feels like a LOT longer. Iowa, which I was dreading turned out to be not that bad. For starters, the welcome sign reads, "The People of Iowa Welcome You" (which i thought was funny because there aren't really people in Iowa, there are cows in Iowa.). The state itself is actually not that bad , it's not flat like i thought but kinda like a really big roller coaster. Also i drove through at sunset which was really pretty. Wouldn't recommend staying in Iowa too long, but driving through it is nice. Nebraska on the other hand, boring as hell. There is nothing there.

The Eastern half of Colorado is...well, I don't want to call it boring, but, flat and expansive. It kinda made me feel like I'd been hoodwinked. Where did all the mountains go? But once I got closer to Denver and the Rockies come into view, frustration was quickly replaced with awe as I felt smaller and smaller with every passing minute.

So I arrived in Boulder and crashed in my sister Eliza's apartment, for a few days. It was very nice of her and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank her publicly. Anyway, we hung around Boulder for a little bit in the shadow of a mountain i still don't know the name of. I had a bit of what I think was altitude sickness on the first day, but it seems to have passed now. but the real acclimation test will come tomorrow when I go hiking for the first time since I've been here.

This weekend Eliza and I went to a Scottish highland festival. It poured, trying to stay opptomistic we called it classic Scottish weather. There was food, music, pole throwing and other games, Guinness, whiskey, everything a Scottish/Irish festival needs for a real rumpus . It was a good time.

Anyway, so that's week in  a nutshell, I'm sure I forgot some things but o well. For the time being I'm staying in a campground in Longmont, about 15 minutes from Boulder. I'll try to upload some pictures from here as soon as I find my camera cable... or get a new one. Either way, pictures forthcoming.